Medicinal Mushrooms: Cultivation and Pharmaceutical Impact

Abstract

Mushroom cultivation for medicinal use marks a milestone that the society has moved into an era where mushrooms are no longer perceived as mere food that enhance the experience of satiety but edibles with valuable medicinal properties to wage against modern lifestyle diseases. The complex mushroom properties coupled with high cost to synthesize them artificially allow improved, fresh and creative ways of cultivation to expand. The cultivation rescues several rare medicinal species from extinction in the wild, reduce the impact of over harvest, exempt from heavy metal contamination and reduce the difficulty in terms of supply to meet demands. Yet, like cultivating mushrooms for food, unattainable cultivating procedures and etiquettes will cripple any potential chances of any mushroom properties to be developed as pharmaceuticals. Cultivating mushroom for its pharmaceutical properties demands different sets of quality control to ascertain the yield is safe, high in bioactive constituents and will deliver the expected bioactivities when consumed. Though the cultivation techniques for specific medicinal properties of mushrooms are still at infantry, the prospect is growing rapidly. The modern society will soon need the involvement of respective health authorities to enforce lawful manufacturing processes and guidelines. Mushroom pharmaceuticals are a not-too-distant future reality.